mass wildlife

[Freeloader]

I was up at my friends house in mass and i happened to come across a mass wildlife magazine. I dont know how many of you are familiar with this magazine but its basically just an overview of what the DEP and fish and game are doing plus interesting outdoor stories by mass locals.
I'm not sure if we have something like this in CT but if we don't we should and if we do i don't know whether it can compete with mass wildlife. I've seen just about everything from squirrel hunting to moose hunting in these mags.

So I came across an article about the effects of lead on species. I was disgusted to see the effects of it on animals that had digested any form of lead weight from fishing. It was pretty gross. It showed lots of dead birds that they dissected. The cause of death of many was presumed to be due to a large piece of fishing weight. The weight was normally surrounded by green rotted cancerous areas in their digestive tracts. now I don't see fly fishing being a major cause of animal death but now that i think of it there is probably enough lead scattered throughout the Farmington by us and spin fisherman to kill a small village.

Now my question is with all of our efforts to keep the Farmington pristine do think its appropriate to be letting everyone fish with lead? keep in mind if you swallowed one split shot theres a good chance that you would end up in the hospital.

I am in no way starting an argument here. The article isn't making me stop fishing with lead although it should. i would just like to see peoples opinion of the effect of lead in our rivers.

[Rich Strolis]

Mike,
I understand where you are coming from, lead isnt as big an issue as it was say 10 years ago. With the advent tin shot and the more environmentally aware we fisherman get, most shops sell the tin shot alternative now. Tin sinks about as fast, is harder and gets hung up less and is more environmentally safe than lead. That being said, there are the few that still fish with lead, and some subsurface patterns still incorporate lead in their recipe. I am not certain as to how big of a concern it may be to our fisheries. Maybe someone with more knowledge in that area can comment.

[Stoney]

I've done a fair bit of research on this and, as usual, have seen at least two theories from different credible sources.

One is that waterfowl don't ingest lead sinkers often enough to make this a serious environmental issue. What we occasionally see on the news are the rare deaths that are discovered, explained, and then publicized.

Another is that waterfowl death from lead is more common than we think because dead birds aren't always found, or if found they don't cause much alarm and aren't examined for lead poisoning.

Personally, I don't think it rises to the level of a ban-all-use-of-lead-and-let's-get-the-government-even-more-involved :mad: type of issue, but I'd rather take the safe route, so I purchase the environmentally-friendly products that Rich mentioned. Tin, tungsten, and even stone (yes, stone) are being made into sinkers, and the prices are reasonable.

As for lures, flies, and fly-tying material, I'm not sure about the availability of lead-free options. Maybe that's in some producer's pipeline for the near future.

I figure if there's a reasonably-priced, environmentally-friendly, fishing-friendly option, then why not take it?

[Andrew]

I'm not sure if we have something like this in CT but if we don't we should and if we do i don't know whether it can compete with mass wildlife.


We do have one, and it's called... "Connecticut Wildlife". My wife brings it home from work every now and then.

[Freeloader]

yeah is Ct wildlife pretty good? I'd sign up if it competes with mass.